A top Indian parliamentary committee has warned that "aerial terrorism" was emerging as a "potent" security threat in the region, including for India.
"Countering Global Terrorism at Regional and International Levels," a report published by Indian Parliament's Committee on External Affairs, has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to take measures to forge greater policy coordination in the global community to counter the "abuse" of new and emerging technologies by terrorist groups.
It noted that besides the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), terrorist groups were also exploiting other emerging technologies such as social media platforms, encrypted messaging services and crypto currencies for carrying out their activities.
The committee noted that the Indian government has come up with the 'Delhi Declaration' in 2022 to counter the use of new and emerging technologies by terrorist groups.
"The Declaration focused on the threat from unmanned aerial systems including drones, online radicalisation and recruitment as well as terrorist financing through crypto currencies and other virtual means," it noted.
The Delhi Declaration was also adopted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) counter-terrorism committee in 2022.
The Border Security Force (BSF) has said that it shot down nearly 100 drones involved in smuggling arms and narcotics at the western border in 2023.
The Indian committee reiterated New Delhi's longstanding concerns about cross-border terrorism, stating that terrorist groups were being provided "safe havens, material support, finance and other logistics by Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to carry out terrorist activities in India".
Terrorists Likely Using Cryptocurrency for Terror Financing
The Indian parliament committee further expressed concern over the increasing usage of bitcoin and crowd-funding platforms by global terrorist groups (GTGs) such as Al-Qaeda* and Daesh** for preparing for terror attacks and revival of their sleeper cells, the report stated.
"In addition to instigating lone wolf attacks, GTGs also radicalise youth through misinformation and false narrative via extensive use of social media platforms," it said.
The report noted that in spite of growing counter-terrorism measures taken by the Indian and other governments, GTGs continued to pose a "major challenge for global peace and security".
"In view of the threat to the global community and to humanity at large, the Committee have desired that collective global efforts against GTGs should be strengthened and intensified through active coordination and effective implementation of the various UN resolutions and strict adherence to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) norms," it recommended.
*banned terrorist group
**banned terrorist group